


Take On Me

by Magdalane



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Facials, Office Sex, Pining, Professor Ben Solo, pussy slapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:07:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26226130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magdalane/pseuds/Magdalane
Summary: 80's Songfic Challenge.A-Ha, Take On MeWe're talking awayI don't know whatI'm to say I'll say it anywayToday's another day to find youShying awayI'll be coming for your love, okay?Take on me (take on me)Take me on (take on me)I'll be goneIn a day or twoSo needless to sayI'm odds and endsBut I'll be stumbling awaySlowly learning that life is okaySay after meIt's no better to be safe than sorryTake on me (take on me)Take me on (take on me)I'll be goneIn a day or two
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31
Collections: RFR Songfic Challenge





	Take On Me

[ ](https://ibb.co/z8KHthd)

AUGUST

Rey had been expecting the immediate change in temperature when she stepped out the doors of the airport in Trinidad, making her glad she wasn’t making the move from London during the colder months. The humidity, however, made the warmth  _ feel _ different as she took in a deep breath and stretched her travel-weary muscles, and that was something she hadn’t considered. It felt balmy and slightly uncomfortable, but she was ready for a change of pace. 

A new university, a new climate, new people to meet, new ideas for her work𑁋 she was trying to be excited for any change, and the way the air just  _ felt _ different when she breathed it in, an unknown flowery smell also wafting through the air, cemented the feeling that she was doing the right thing.

She’d come to a point in her life where she’d begun to wonder about the goals she’d set for herself, wondering at times what she was even  _ doing _ . The opportunity to spend a semester as a visiting lecturer at the University of the West Indies campus in St. Augustine had suffused her with a new energy. It had been past time for a change, and it was here.

She had gotten through baggage and customs easily enough, and continued taking in her surroundings as she looked for the person the university had sent to pick her up, already taken by the sloping green mountains she had admired as her plane descended. She saw her name on a poster being held by an attractive dark skinned man about her height in the outdoor arrival area, and she approached him with just a hint of butterflies.

“I’m Rey,” she smiled, jutting out her hand as she shifted her bag over her shoulder.

“Finn,” he said amicably. “I’m a professor in the robotics department.”

She took in his accent, fairly sure it must be Trinidadian, but not rude enough to inquire about it on their first meeting. 

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m excited to be here,” she replied.

He held out a hand, offering to grab one of her larger suitcases, and she followed him to a white compact SUV. She was surprised to see a tall man with dark hair and pale skin leaning against the car staring down at his phone.

“Ben, here she is. Rey, Ben, Ben, Rey,” Finn said breezily as he walked to open the back hatch door and help load the suitcases.

Rey stuck out her hand to shake Ben’s proffered one, and she swore her heart skipped a beat as their hands and eyes met at the same time. His eyes were a rich brown mostly, and intense, and his broad frame was almost  _ unusual. _ It made her feel shorter and slighter than she usually did. 

“Dr. Ben Solo,” he finally said after they’d locked eyes for what was probably longer than average. She couldn’t be sure if his appraisal had been a good one.

“Right. Uh, Rey Johnson,” she answered, dropping her hand. “I get two escorts to campus?”

She handed Finn her smaller suitcase and he loaded it in.

“I was asked to collect you, but Ben here has the bigger car, and wouldn’t let me drive it myself,” Finn said. “Are you hungry? I’d imagine so.”

“I am, but I want to get settled in, too.”

“Eh, you’ve got time. The university is only 30 minutes away. Ben, let’s stop and get her doubles,” Finn called from the back sea. “Ever had any Trinidadian food?”

“No, I can’t say that I have,” she answered. “I mean, in London I tried a roti once at a restaurant with my friends.”

“Nah. We’ll get you a roti next time. Doubles it is.”

Ben kept his eyes on the road, his long arm outstretched lazily on the wheel.

“UWI doubles then?” he asked Finn, referring to a restaurant near the edge of campus.

“No, she’ll have plenty time to eat there. Franks is on Evans Street today. They are the best,” Finn answered.

Rey tried to surreptitiously study the man driving next to her. He was long and lean and his head nearly brushed the top of the car. She found that looking at him was  _ doing  _ things to her, so she chided herself and tried to relax by looking away from him to take in the unfamiliar scenery as it passed by.

  
  


SEPTEMBER

Rey settled into her new routine easily. While everything was different in various ways, she enjoyed it, and she’d found a friend in Finn, who was around nearly all the time to introduce her to people and things and make sure she wasn’t lonely.

She thought her classes on language acquisition in robotics were going well, and was currently attending a lecture by Ben𑁋 Dr. Solo𑁋 that she thought might help her with her research into creating languages that could be effectively utilized in robotics. Perhaps studying older languages could provide some insight into how a robot could learn language in a more human way. 

She’d had the slightest butterflies at the thought of seeing Ben teach. He was just so  _ sexy _ in his presence that she was sure he’d be a captivating lecturer, and she had been correct. She was trying to pay attention; she really was, yet she found herself entirely distracted by the man.

She hadn’t minded his molten stare that first day, and her mind drifted back to their meal together on the way to campus from the airport. He’d studied her mouth as she tried doubles for the first time and she’d wondered if she was being exceptionally messy or rude. She’d been hungry, and the uniquely curried flavor of the chickpeas was wonderful.

She had to admit she had looked for him around campus ever since, and every time they ran into each other she felt an innate attraction. He was easy for her to talk to, even though she wasn’t sure he was all that talkative himself. But her status as a visiting professor was a limited position. She had no real interest in anything romantic while she completed her semester at UWI. She’d been on the lookout for a change; but not something quite as drastic as settling down, so to speak. And she’d never been very good at dating casually.

But at least for today she was  _ looking  _ at Ben Solo _.  _ She was looking at rolled up sleeves of his dark maroon button up shirt and his forearms, his longish hair that he managed to pull off while looking well put together, his broad shoulders. Suddenly, while in the middle of a sentence, he met her eyes, and she looked away quickly, afraid she might be blushing.

At the end of his lecture, she rushed to grab her notes and leave quickly. As she walked back to her office, she debated sending off an email to ask him if she could sit into any of his classes regularly, wondering if something might nudge her research in a particular direction. Or at least give her something to fantasize about when she wasn’t thinking about robots and language.

  
  


OCTOBER

Rey stepped out of her last class of the day to wait for Finn on a nearby bench to enjoy the last of the sun for the evening. He usually left at the same time as her and walked with her to her apartment on the edge of campus, which was something of a campus policy. Students and faculty were always encouraged to only walk with others after dark. When Finn had told her it wasn’t such a bad policy, Rey had scoffed at the idea of calling the official campus security for an escort, so they simply began walking together. She couldn’t tell if people were overcautious or not, because she didn’t take any precautions that were all that different from living in London. 

Either way, Finn walking with her and living close by was convenient and allowed her to follow the rules. 

A text message popped up as she scrolled through her social media.

_ Working late, can’t walk with you tonight, luv. Solo is on his way. I know you won’t call campus security. I told him where you wait. _

Rey touched two fingers to her forehead and closed her eyes, grimacing. She didn’t like feeling like she needed a babysitter just to walk a few blocks.  _ Everyone _ walked. But it was true enough that the university’s official stance was to do so in groups. 

She felt a shadow cross her face and looked up to see Ben towering over her.

“I can’t believe Finn made you come over to our department for this,” she muttered, embarrassed, instead of starting with a polite hello.

Ben smirked and held his arm out gallantly.

“It pleases me to escort my lady, dear Rey. It is not a trouble.”

“Oh gosh, don’t ever say that again,” she laughed, but stood up and placed her hands on his outstretched forearm. 

“Wait, that’s not right,” she said, moving her arm and looping it under his. “This feels funny, too. See, I don’t even know how to be properly escorted.”

Ben clamped his other hand over hers and looked down at her intently.

“No, you’ve got it right.” Her hand tingled where his touched hers. “Didn’t your people invent this stuff, anyway? Lords and ladies and proper behavior and all that?”

“Probably, but I am definitely  _ not _ a proper lady, Dr. Solo,” she said, looking up at him, their arms and hands still joined. 

“Is that so?” he asked, something in his voice. Rey thought she might combust at the effect he had on her, and he probably didn’t know he was doing it.

They broke apart, the moment passing, and Rey gave off a nervous laugh.

“Definitely, definitely not,” she muttered. What she decidedly did not say was  _ I might think about you on occasion when I can’t sleep _ .

He raised an eyebrow at her as he gestured for her to lead the way.

After a few minutes, he broke the silence.

“So, how do you like UWI?”

“It’s nice. I like what I’m teaching. I like the students. And Trinidad is so different from England, but I love it.”

“Yeah, it’s nice here. How long is your contract?”

“Only one semester, unless they continue to expand the program.”

“One semester,” he said thoughtfully. “That’s not long. Do you want them to ask you to stay?”

“Possibly. It was never meant to be long term though,” she said wistfully.

“Yeah, that’s the problem with being a visiting professor.”

A beat passed and they walked by a flamboyant tree, which Rey had decided was her  _ favorite _ tree with the way the vibrant red flowers branched out like a canopy.

“Would you stay if they asked?”

“I’m not sure,” she answered thoughtfully. “I think I could continue my research here, so I guess that’s what matters.”

The night was descending quickly, as it seemed to do here, but the sidewalk was well lit.

“What made you come to my lecture that day?” Ben asked, full of questions now that he had her as a captive audience. 

Rey felt her cheeks heat up, but they were both looking ahead as they walked.

“I’m just… trying to find a new way of looking at a problem. One issue in robotics for decades has been how robots can understand human language, because we speak with so much more nuance than we realize. The conversation can’t really… flow the way we think it does, in artificial intelligence. The fact is humans are actually quite unpredictable in the way we speak, we even say the wrong thing half the time but the person picks up what we mean through context and body language, notwithstanding how our languages are constantly changing. Most people don’t probably realize what a challenge this poses to robots understanding commands from humans that aren’t a set script.”

She had begun to become more animated as she spoke.

“Well, yeah, that’s all true,” Ben mused.

“I’m sure I don’t have to tell a linguist about the complexities of language, but the problem with artificial intelligence becomes trying to make all the variants of how we converse something a robot can easily understand, more often than not” she replied. “I actually… I actually thought sitting in on one of your courses on ancient languages more often could be interesting.”

His heart sped up a bit at that.

“You can come to any lecture of mine you want,” he said simply. “I don’t know how it would apply exactly, but you can.”

Rey laughed. 

“I don’t know how it applies  _ either _ . I was hoping the change of pace and thinking about language differently might… spur me in some direction,” she said. “I was beginning to feel a bit lost in my research.”

“Did taking this job help?”

“Too soon to say,” she replied. “Did you ever feel… lost in academia?”

Ben looked thoughtful.

“No, not really. I knew what I wanted and I never deviated. But I think there is a lot of difference in the natures of what we study, so don’t be discouraged by  _ me _ .”

They had come to Rey’s apartment building, and Ben insisted on walking her right up to the door.

“Well, thanks for the escort, sir,” she said, fishing her keys out of her satchel.

He was looking at her with that smolder again, as they looked at each other without speaking just a hair too long again. She swallowed before blurting out what she was thinking.

“Do you want to... come in?” she asked, a suggestive tone in her voice.

He nodded without saying anything as she swung open the door and went inside to drop her things on a nearby table.

Before she could open her mouth to make sure he knew what she was suggesting, he was pushing the door closed and was suddenly very, very close.

He reached up to press his thumb against her lip, dragging it down ever so gently.

“You have the most gorgeous lips,” he whispered, leaning down to kiss her softly at first, and then much, much harder.

“I told you I’m not a lady,” she muttered, and pulled him towards the bedroom.

“Eh, you can be my lady,” he joked.

Rey reached out and placed a palm on his chest, stilling his advance toward her. 

“This is just sex, Ben,” she said firmly. “I’m leaving in just a few months, and I’m not interested in a long distance relationship.”

“Well, you might be leaving,” he said. 

“No…” she said slowly. “I am definitely leaving. There's no reason to plan for any other outcome, when nothing has been offered officially.”

“Okay…” he said, measuring his words so as to not further ruin the mood. “Then I guess I’d better make this count.”

He offered her a crooked grin, and she pulled her shirt off revealing a cream colored bra that nearly matched her skin tone, before turning and leading him to her bedroom.

NOVEMBER

Rey waited a few weeks to hear from Ben, hoping he might show again to walk her home, but he never did. She thought about him every day, and her only saving grace was that her workload didn’t allow her to dwell on his lack of contact as much as she would otherwise.

She knew he had to enjoy their night together, and the more she thought about it, the more she thought he interpreted her saying it was just sex to mean she wanted a one night stand. Maybe it was up to her now to let him know she was perfectly happy for a standing just-sex arrangement. She had a little less than two full months left. And she needed a break from the monotony of her classes. On the weekends, she’d visited other areas of Trinidad with Finn and his friends; there really were so many things to do. But she was in need of a decidedly different type of relaxation currently.

She pulled up Ben’s academic calendar available on the UWI website to see his schedule for the week. It looked like on Thursday he’d have office hours directly after his last afternoon class.

  
  


Rey tried to stealthily sneak into the back of Ben’s last class on Thursday. She was wearing her cutest top with a plain gray pencil skirt, and she felt mostly confident about her looks.

Despite filing in with the last of the students, Ben’s eyes immediately zeroed in on her sitting quietly in the back of the room. She met his gaze with a brief smile, and then he turned away to begin his lecture, not looking back at her for the rest of the hour. She thought she had been distracted by him before they had been together, but  _ now _ ? His commanding presence, his quiet but evident passion for his work, his angular face and discerning eyes had her remembering what he was like intimately as well as fantasizing about new things.

She didn’t realize students were filing out of the room, lost in her head as she was, until the last student was asking Ben something up at the front of the room. She uncrossed her legs and collected herself, timing it so that she could approach him naturally when the student left. 

“I was hoping I could speak with you during your office hours, Professor,” she said coyly, as she approached him.

“Did you?” he asked simply, feigning ignorance of her intent.

She cut her eyes at him.

“Perhaps I wasn’t concerned with how much talking might be involved.”

He leaned casually against the table at the front of the room, his long legs outstretched.

“I see,” he smirked. “In my office? That sounds like an appropriate place to you?”

She trailed her eyes down his body and back up.

“I do.”

“Well, I never do argue with a lady,” he said, standing straight and offering his elbow to her.

She laughed.

“Not this again,” she said, but lightly hooked her palm around his arm𑁋 until they reached the door anyway.

They didn’t say much during the short walk to his office, standing close enough to feel the heat radiating off each other’s bodies, the tension building when he let her walk just slightly ahead of him on the stairs, so she would glance back at him watching her.

When they reached his office, Ben gently closed the door behind him and flipped the lock, turning to see Rey leaning against his desk, mirroring his stance from before. He’d left the windows open, and most people did, and a breeze fluttering through the small space.

“A rendezvous in my office? A bit cliche, isn’t it?” he asked.

She pulled him toward her by his belt buckle and began to undo it slowly.

“Sometimes the best things are, no?”

He looked down intently and she was sure he was going to kiss her, but instead he turned his head and went for her neck. She instinctively looked to the side, and having finished undoing his pants, wrapped her hands around his rapidly hardening cock.

“Have you ever thought about it, in your office?”

“Not really,” he admitted.

“Are you sure….?” Her voice raised in pitch, prodding him. “What would you think about me, if you did? What would you want me to do?”

He pulled back from her neck and smirked.

“Well, this was your idea. You tell me what you want.”

“All  _ I _ want is for you to do whatever it is you want to do,” she said. “Literally. Tell me what to do. Tell me how you want to use me.”

She looked up through her lashes and bit her lip. There was vulnerability involved in telling him to use her as he saw fit, but there was power in it too.

He blew a breath out and palmed her breast through her thin shirt.

He could think of a lot of things he would do to this woman. With her.

“Okay, then. For now, I just want you to stand there,” he said.

Both hands gripped her breasts, firmly, feeling them properly through the layers.

He massaged them that way, over her clothes𑁋 for what felt like an agonizing amount of time, looking deeply into her eyes rather than at her chest. Forcing her to patiently stand and indulge him while he took his time.

He leaned in and whispered.

“Close your eyes while I do this.”

She did.

His hand trailed up to her mouth, as it had the first night they’d been together, his thumb pushing its way inside. He looked at the way her lashes rested against her skin with her eyes closed and her face so relaxed.

“Suck.”

She did, massaging his thumb with the underside of her tongue. It wasn’t what she wanted there, but it would do.

“Suck on it like it’s my cock,” he murmured. 

His other hand reached down into her blouse, shoving her bra out of the way this time. He rolled her nipple between his middle and pointer fingers, and the pressure had her dying for him to give her more.

“Come on. Suck harder. It’s practice.” His hands were so big that his palm and fingers splayed out along her neck while she obeyed. She’d never done exactly this before, and couldn't believe how much it was turning her on.

She felt the heat from his presence and knew with her eyes closed that his face was very close to hers. He was  _ studying _ her.

Suddenly, his hands were gone. 

“Arms up.”

He pulled her shirt over her head to reveal the emerald bra she’d chosen specifically for this day. He imagined it might bring out the green in her hazel eyes if he let her open them. He debated the best way to reach her between her legs as she leaned against his desk, settling on pushing her down and onto it, his hand flat in between her breasts.

“Shh, just lay there,” he whispered, pushing the fabric of her skirt up and guiding her legs open by her knees. She was fully laid out on his desk now, and she idly thought it was a good thing it had been so impeccably clean.

He held her legs wide open with one arm, leaning down over her, as he began petting her clitoris through the matching deep green fabric of her panties.

“Did you wear these for me?” he mused, and she tried to move her hips upward to increase the pressure, but the simple weight of that arm held her down.

Instead of him giving her anything more when he felt her struggling to lift her hips, she felt a slight tapping on her center.

One...two...three…

“What are you... what are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.

“Exploring. Hush.”

The tapping continued, a light pulse, at first. He watched her bite her lip, felt her hips try to rise again, watched her breath get faster. 

Finally he gave in and stroked his fingers harder, eventually smacking her center with his fingers and eliciting small moans each time. It was nowhere near enough. 

“Ben, you’re not… you’re teasing me. I’m never gonna come this way.”

Every little slap sent a shockwave through her core, and she squirmed desperately.

He pushed her panties to the side and touched her𑁋 finally𑁋 the way she wanted. Firm circles fully on her sensitive clit, dipping down to penetrate her and pull moisture back up, over and over. 

“Is this what you wanted?” he asked, after her gasps and moans got too loud for the opne windows.

“Uh-huh.” she lay before him, eyes still closed, shirt off and skirt bunched up, heels on. She was  _ so _ close to a crescendo.

“I thought you said you wanted to be my fantasy, and for me to do what  _ I _ wanted.”

He took his hand away.

“I... I do. That’s what I wanted.”

“But now you want to come?”

“Yes?” she asked, uncertainly, her voice high.

“Do you think you could come like this? How long would it take if I just keep gently petting you like I like?” he asked, going back to his slow tapping.

She groaned.

“Lucky for you, I plan on watching you come. Just. Not. Yet.”

He pulled her skirt off, and pressed his mouth to her center, back to teasing her over her underwear, biting ever so softly with the layer of fabric to protect her delicate skin. It was an odd sensation. His hand shoved underneath her bra to pull at her nipple rougher than before. 

He didn’t stay with his mouth on her long, and was suddenly pulling her up.

“You can open your eyes.”

Her pupils were wild and she looked a little feral. He continued tapping on her clit, just enough to keep her desperate for release and nowhere near obtaining it. Playing with her literally and figuratively.

“It’s only right to bend over the desk for me, since this was all your idea. Sound good?” 

She scrambled off the desk and stuck her ass in the air wiggling it for effect.

“Yes, you would do anything I asked right now wouldn’t ?” he murmured, studying her body from behind.

She bent down impossibly farther, her breasts flat against the desk, urging him to just get on with it. 

He freed himself the rest of the way and eased into her slowly and she pushed back forcefully, trying to finish what he’d started.

He groaned and gripped her hips, setting a hurried pace. A long awaited crest of pleasure took over her body and she ground against him, meeting his thrusts. 

But he wasn’t ready to be done and he’d done a number on himself working her up the way he had. He gripped her hips to still them.

“I think I've changed my mind. I want to come on your face,” he muttered, pulling out before it was too late. He spun her around by the shoulder as she turned to him, pushing her down to her knees and stroking himself at the same time.

She closed her eyes just in time to feel the hot thread of cum hit her cheeks and mouth. He held the tip there, by her lips, as he grunted through his final wave of pleasure.

“Get back on the desk,” he commanded, and she hoisted herself up. She giggled, she couldn't help it, feeling silly with his cum all over her face now that she’d had her release.

He knew that it would only take mere seconds to get her to orgasm again, so he circled her clit with his fingers again, exactly how he knew she’d been dying for since they began, and she gasped and arched her back, coming stronger than she had the first time.

Ben reached over to a box of tissues that sat on the window sill, wiping her face clean as she opened her eyes lazily, looking thoroughly sated and fucked.

“That was… something else, Professor. Wow.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” he answered simply, and they put themselves back together.

  
  


DECEMBER

It became clear to both of them that they had a chemistry too undeniable to not take advantage of during the time Rey had left on her contract. For the rest of November, the pair had eased into a makeshift routine of meeting in Ben’s office on Thursdays and Ben finding an excuse to walk Rey to her apartment at least once a week.

He wanted to take her out for dinner. Every night, even. But he sensed she’d be resistant to that idea. He’d managed to convince her to visit Fort George with him one Sunday, telling her she’d regret it if she didn’t go before she left. Though they’d had a lovely day, and she was taken by the views and the history, it still felt like he was consistently pushing for more time with her while she kept their rendezvouses limited to the physical.

It was late in December, the campus empty now that the semester was over, Rey’s flight leaving for London the next morning.

She was packed, and Ben had come over to say goodbye even though she’d told him not to, resulting in them tumbling into Rey’s bed yet again.

“I’m still leaving tomorrow, Ben,” she said, pulling back and meeting his eyes, her hand still wrapped around his cock. “This doesn’t change anything.”

She was clear and cutting with her words, but had to look away from his eyes just then, because they always read as so open and vulnerable to her.

“Why? Why can’t it change anything?” he asked, her hand beginning to move again slowly, his head falling into her shoulder. He didn’t ask her to stop.

“I’m not changing my life for someone else,” she responded. “I still have my goals, and this was never permanent.” 

She didn’t say  _ I’m sorry _ to him because she tried not to even think it. She would  _ not _ think it. She would not apologize for things that weren’t her fault, or for her priorities.

But; she stroked him almost reverently. She could give him this, she just couldn’t give him anything more. She’d worked too hard to derail her life over a passing fling. Or even something as nebulous as love.

“Your words have never matched your actions, have they?” he muttered.

His breath quickened, and he panted into her ear, but if this was their last time together, it wasn’t going to go this way.

He grabbed her hand and pulled it away, swinging his leg around and shoving her legs open with his thick thighs. She gasped as he pushed in and flexed her feet, wrapping her body around him and just feeling. She didn’t want to admit how much she loved the feeling of him inside her, and how much she wished she’d feel it again.

“This doesn’t have to be all we are,” he whispered in her ear, his rhythm never letting it up. “It doesn’t. You can stay here, with me. It’ll work itself out.”

She ignored him, because she wanted to lash out at him to just  _ shut up _ and quit ruining the moment. He had no  _ idea _ what it took her to get where she was in her career, and she wouldn’t take any breaks from it more than was necessary. 

She pushed into him with her hips, meeting him with every stroke and soon he was grunting into her ear and spilling into her cunt.

She hadn’t come. 

He rolled off of her, kissing her neck, his hand sliding down to rub circles on her clit. 

“You could stay with me,” he said, the pleasurably sensations mounting. She had already been close.

“We’ve been over this,” she muttered, running her hands through his hair, and pushing his mouth towards her nipple. He gladly took the hint and licked and sucked while he continued working her clit, harder and harder.

“We could do this every day,” he whispered. “We  _ could _ have done it every day you were here if you’d stopped pushing me away.”

“Coulda, woulda, shoulda,” she breathed. She was so, so close, but he just wasn’t hitting the right spot.

“I would have fucked you so good, every fucking night, Rey,” he finally said. His fingers on her clit pushed down hard, and he practically bit her nipple, pulling it up with his teeth and she fell apart. Finally, the intensity of the moment she’d been trying to get to washed over her, clearing her mind of the worries about the futility of his wants and needs for things she couldn’t give.

She breathed his name out in a long moan, hips rising off the bed, fists causing her nails to dig into her palms. As her orgasm subsided, she felt the pain, lifting her palm to see the indents her nails had made, and laughing lightly.

“Wow. I don’t think that’s happened before.”

He didn’t say anything. Just grabbed her hand gently and kissed the marks, an act somehow just as intimate as what they’d just done. She turned into him and buried her head, savoring the moment and wishing it would last longer that it could.

  
  


It was 5 a.m., and after being dropped at the airport by a taxi, she was blearily making her way to the line to check-in for her flight when she felt a light touch at her bicep. She turned, prepared to apologize for bumping into someone, but there he was𑁋 standing tall, his button up shirt from the night before on inside out, as if he had pulled it over his head like a t-shirt, blinking down at her.

“You came to say goodbye?” she asked, confused that he had driven all the way to the airport just for that. She’d told him last night when he left her apartment not to bother.

“I told you I would,” he replied, and then he was kissing her, insistent and needy and soft all at the same time. She kissed him back and it felt so much more important than she’d wanted it to.  _ He _ felt so much more important than she’d wanted him to, but she kissed him back earnestly, because she knew. She knew this was probably going to be it, and she would actually let herself enjoy it.

She wondered why she couldn’t have just let herself enjoy their time more while it lasted rather than consistently pushing him away. His taste on her lips and his hands pulling her body hard against his made it hard to think straight, made it hard to remember the reasons she’d thought a fling while she had been in Trinidad was a bad thing.  _ Because he never looked at you like you were a fling. _

Eventually they pulled apart, having shifted out of the way of other people needing to get in line without speaking. 

“I’ll see you around,” he said, his voice gravelly.

“No, you won’t,” she said with a half smile. It was a joke, but it definitely didn’t land, a despondency hitting her that she hadn’t expected.

“Always doubting me. You’ll see,” he said.

She cocked her head and gave him a confused smile, and turned to get back in the line, one last long look behind her. 

  
  
  


Rey found herself more depressed in the cold London atmosphere at Christmastime than she’d ever thought possible.

She realized now; she’d made a terrible, terrible mistake. He was ten years older, established in his career; he’d obviously wanted to settle down, and wanted her for  _ her _ , and she’d run in the other direction.

She loved him, she realized bitterly. She hadn’t seemed to be able to admit it to herself. She’d thought they had something mostly carnal; but she sat in a small bookshop, one she had actually mentioned to Ben because she frequented it so often. She sipped her tea and stared out at the dreary weather, thinking mostly of him. She’d subleased her apartment to match the time she’d be in Trinidad, and the way her life just moved right back to exactly where it had been before almost made the last six months seem like a dream. It felt surreal, as if she’d imagined it.

She thought back to the short times they’d spent together when they  _ weren’t _ tearing each other’s clothes off, realizing with a scoff that she’d dated him without being smart enough to notice.

She thought of the way he’d insist on stopping by a food truck after their Thursday afternoons together. They’d talk and eat on a bench, and she’d thought it didn't mean much. She thought back to the warm breeze that had fluffed her hair when they looked down at Port of Spain from Fort George. She’d never seen such a beautiful place from the crest of a mountain that way before, and while she’d been busy looking at the views and taking in the history, Ben had been busy looking at her. She ignored him and his deep brown puppy-dog eyed looks, because it made her uncomfortable to think of wanting someone enough or being wanted enough to change your life for them. 

She was so lost in thought she hardly glanced up when someone sat opposite to her at the small bistro table that sat only two.

“Fancy meeting a lady here such as yourself,” said a familiar voice. 

She realized then that she  _ had _ lost it. She’d imagined she moved to an island in the Caribbean and met a man, and now the obviously imaginary man was here.

Her mouth dropped open, and she didn’t say anything.

“Rey? I hope… I hope it's okay that I’m here?” he said, beginning to sound nervous.

“What? How are you here?  _ Why _ are you here?” Her heart was racing.

“Well… one answer is because I never visit my family for Christmas, and my uncle moved to England a few years back. So I’m here to see him and my mother. But the actual answer is that I had to see you again. I just… Rey, you don’t realize what we could have, if you would just... take me on about it.”

She laughed at his choice of the phrase ‘take me on’. She’d had to have Finn explain to her what the phrase meant when she’d first heard it.

“I… Ben, I’m sorry. I was just so afraid of it not working out,” she said, her words rushing out.

“So... it  _ is _ okay that I’m here?”

She reached over and grabbed his hand, turning fully toward him.

“All I’ve thought about since I got on that stupid plane was how much you mean to me. Truly.”

His face split into the biggest smile she’d ever seen grace his mostly serious face.

“You had to know I was coming for you?” he asked.

“No. I… no. I thought I’d never see you again. I just… I’m always afraid to take a chance, I think.”

“But… it’s not better to be safe than sorry, is it?”

“No, no, it really isn’t,” she said, laughing, and shaking her head in wonder that he’d come all the way here to just have another conversation with her. “How can you be so sure about us? I’ve never been sure of anything, ever.”

“That’s okay. I can be sure enough for the both of us, at least for now.”

She jumped up and launched herself into his arms, and they left the shop arm in arm. The rest would sort itself out.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm thinking this is the tropiest thing I've ever written. Clearly, IDK much about robots and linguistics, or academics, but we are pretending that the abstracts I read of scientific issues with languages and robotics made those small details plausible. 
> 
> Also, let's decide UWI DOES offer Rey a permanent job and they live HEA in Trinidad.
> 
> So, I met my husband while I was living in Grenada, and we had this inside joke about this song. I can't find it really listed as slang persay in Grenada or Trinidad or any other Caribbean Island, but people say "take me on" to mean take me seriously or give me a chance. And my husband, having grown up there, always thought it was super funny that this norwegian pop group used that phrase but it's b/c a literal translation, not in the same way. It just *sounds* like something people say somewhere else and it isn't. So we always joked about that, and then when I looked up the meaning of the lyrics, it was perfect for Rey and Ben. The man who wrote the lyrics ended up marrying the person he was writing to, who kept shying away from him. HOW PERFECT WAS THAT!
> 
> Here is the [unplugged version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xKM3mGt2pE), which I have to say, I kind of adore:
> 
> I have never lived in Trinidad. I have lived in the Caribbean, and some of what happens near the end is definitely inspired by when I left Grenada to return to the US and my future husband definitely was asking me to stay. The showing up at the airport at 4:30 a.m. unexpectedly with a button up shirt inside out-- my husband did that. We reunited a year later tho. We had a long distance relationship before social media was a thing, youngins. MSN MESSENGER. NOT EVEN PHONE CALLS OR VIDEO CHAT. We were not professors or college students tho, the rest is entirely made up and is Rey and Ben.
> 
> So that being said, I think I did Trinidad justice. Doubles are amazing, the flamboyant tree is beautiful, Forts feel weird and are left over from colonialism but you wouldn't believe what it's like to stand at the top of them and look down at a city, and college campuses are no more unsafe for young women there than anywhere else. Sure, be sensible and safe. I did NOT want her little plot point there giving Ben an excuse to walk her home to be exaggerated in any way, though Trinidad has a somewhat high crime rate. 
> 
> To honor the place I set the story, [this](https://gal-dem.com/10-questions-caribbean-people-hate-being-asked/) has a map so you can see where Trinidad is if you aren't sure, and gain a bit of knowledge about the Caribbean.


End file.
